This application claims the priority of German Application No. DE 103 41 643.9-14 filed Sep. 10, 2003, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to an adjusting mechanism for a rear seat of a vehicle. Certain preferred embodiments of the invention relate to an adjusting mechanism for a rear seat of a vehicle for adjusting a seat backrest held in a locking point of a vehicle body and a seat part connected with this seat backrest.
From German Patent Document DE 32 06 293 (corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,201), a vehicle seat is known which, by means of its seat backrest and its seat part, can be displaced into a forward and backward position, the seat backrest being arranged to be swivellable and adjustable with respect to the vehicle body by means of a control arm. The seat part is connected with another control arm, by means of which a swivelling and a vertical raising of the seat part takes place.
It is an object of certain preferred embodiments of the invention to provide a displaceable seat, particularly a rear seat for a motor vehicle, which can be adjusted into several positions while the rear backrest is locked in a body-shell-fixed manner.
According to the invention, this object is achieved by providing an adjusting mechanism for a rear seat of a vehicle for adjusting a seat backrest held in a locking point of a vehicle body and a seat part connected with this seat backrest, wherein the adjusting device comprises an adjusting gearing with a kinematic lever connected with the seat backrest by way of a fastening element, the kinematic lever being restrictedly guided on one side in a stationary anchor plate of a seat frame and on another side in a displaceable frame element of the seat.
Important advantages achieved by means of certain preferred embodiments of the invention consist of the fact that, despite a swivelling movement of the seat backrest about a body-shell-fixed locking mechanism, the seat part nevertheless carries out a linear movement on a plane. This is advantageously achieved in that the adjusting mechanism comprises an adjusting gearing having a kinematic lever which is connected with the seat backrest and which, on the one side, is restrictedly guided in a stationary anchor plate of the seat and, on the other side, in a displaceable frame element of the seat. As a result, a movement control of the seat backrest and of the seat part is achieved in a mutually independent manner in that the seat backrest can swivel about a radius, and the seat part is linearly displaced without the adjustment of a different height of the seat part.
According to certain preferred embodiments of the invention, for the restricted guidance of the kinematic lever in the stationary anchor plate, a curved guiding slot for a guide pin is provided at the kinematic lever, and the stationary kinematic lever is swivellably about an axis by way of a pivot pin connected with the frame element. By means of mutually overlapping guide slots in the kinematic lever as well as in the frame element, by way of an engaging fastening element of the seat backrest, the kinematic lever can be adjusted with respect to the latter and with the latter. As a result, the different movement courses, such as the linear movement of the seat part and the swivelling movement of the seat backrest, can advantageously be separated from one another during a displacement operation of the seat.
For this purpose, according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention, the guide slots are set at an angle with respect to one another in a rearward seat end position, the guide slot in the frame element being aligned approximately in a vertical plane, and, in the seat end position, the additional guide slot in the kinematic lever being arranged approximately in a horizontal plane.
As a result, by way of the adjusting gearing, the vehicle seat can be continuously displaced from a rearward seat position to a forward seat position such that, by means of the kinematic lever, the seat can be linearly moved in the direction of the arrow, and the seat backrest is constructed to be swivellable in the direction of the arrow about the stationary locking point of the seat backrest. A correlating movement of the elements of the adjusting gearing is thereby achieved without any occurrence of a blocking during the displacement of the seat. An end position of the displaced seat, according to certain preferred embodiments of the invention, whether it is toward the front or toward the rear—viewed in the driving direction of the vehicle—has been reached, when, in the rearward seat end position, the guide pin of the kinematic lever at the rearward end—viewed in the displacement direction of the seat—is arranged in the curved guide slot of the stationary anchor plate, and simultaneously the fastening element of the seat backrest is arranged in the lower end of the approximately vertically aligned guide slot of the frame element and in the forward end of the guide slot of the kinematic lever, and the guide pin as well as the fastening element in the forward end seat position respectively is arranged in a position at the opposed ends of the guide slots.
An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the drawings and will be described in detail in the following.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.